H. Martinezblanco et al., CHARACTERIZATION OF THE GENE ENCODING ACETYL-COA SYNTHETASE IN PENICILLIUM-CHRYSOGENUM - CONSERVATION OF INTRON POSITION IN PLECTOMYCETES, Gene, 130(2), 1993, pp. 265-270
Acetyl-coenzyme A synthetase (ACS; EC 6.2.1.1) from some plectomycete
fungi is possibly involved in an accesory step of penicillin biosynthe
sis, in addition to its role in primary metabolism. We present the cha
racterisation of the gene encoding this enzyme in Penicillium chrysoge
num, which we designated acuA. Sequencing of genomic and cDNA clones s
howed that the coding region was interrupted by five introns, located
at the same positions as those present in the Aspergillus nidulans hom
ologue. This supports the possibility that the gene acquired its defin
itive mosaic organisation before the Penicillium/Aspergillus divergenc
e. The mature transcript encodes a polypeptide with an M(r) of 74 287
which is 89.4% identical to its A. nidulans counterpart.